Hi, my name is Caroline, I am a mum of 5 with Multiple Sclerosis, and I live on the Shotley Peninsula. My son Samuel Outhwaite is 19 and has worked very hard and paid for a private course to get dancing, ballet, contemporary, commercial etc.for the last year at CTC College.

Sam has now been offered a 100% scholarship at a dance school in London. In future, he will hopefully be working as part of the west end and maybe Disney cruises etc. Unfortunately we have found there is no funding at all for a course like this (3years). Sam has worked two jobs for the last 1-2 years. He's worked at the Chinese in Chelmo since he was 16, and works at Nando’s and has now secured his job transfer to London.

The problem we are having is the deposit for a house share in that area. Also clothing that he has to fund himself. We are doing our best and the college have already helped massively. The gov. site does not help with funding, as it’s not a student finance accommodation, I have tried as many sites for support as I can think of.

I do not want him to miss out on this fantastic opportunity, it is a very difficult industry to get into. Most kids start at 2, Sam started at 17. Please please if you can think of anything, or help in any way, can you let me know. Thanks for reading.